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Author Topic: Subversive children's books?
tonguesincommon
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posted 26 July 2002 04:42 PM      Profile for tonguesincommon        Edit/Delete Post  Reply With Quote 
wE are planning a feature on children's books (age 8 and under) that creatively subvert the patriarchal, racist, homophobic, transphobic and capitalistic society that children grow up in.

Are there any moms, dads, aunts, sisters, uncles, brothers etc. who can recommend some book titles?

Please include...
book title:
author:
publisher: (including indy publications)
and a brief description of the story and how it addresses oppression.

East Coast authors would be extra-wonderful!

You can post here or email us!

tONGUES iN cOMMON is a feminist, polysexshul, gender-transgressive, anti-capitalist East Coast Zine that will debut this fall.

[email protected]


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Michelle
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posted 26 July 2002 04:53 PM      Profile for Michelle   Author's Homepage     Send New Private Message      Edit/Delete Post  Reply With Quote 
The Paper Bag Princess by Robert Munsch. Sorry, don't know the publisher.

It's a play on the age old fairy tale where the prince has to save the helpless princess. In this one, a dragon kidnaps the prince and takes him to his lair. The princess then goes to rescue the prince, using her mind rather than her brawn.

The best part is at the end (spoiler)

where, after the princess saves the prince, and is all grimy and dirty from having had her castle burnt down around her, the prince looks at her and tells her she looks terrible. The princess, who is engaged to the prince, decides not to marry him, but skips off into the sunset.

It's an awesome book.


From: I've got a fever, and the only prescription is more cowbell. | Registered: May 2001  |  IP: Logged
vaudree
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posted 26 July 2002 05:04 PM      Profile for vaudree     Send New Private Message      Edit/Delete Post  Reply With Quote 
Someone on another board recomended "The Day My Bum Went Psycho" by Andy Griffiths but I haven't read it. He is supposed to be really big down under.
http://www.andygriffiths.com.au

Classics such as "The Paper Bag Princess," Robert Munsch's other book about a fart, and Mordicai Richler's "Jacob Two-Two and the Dinosaur" are too much classics to be considered subversive.

quote:
Good Families Don't is Munsch's funniest book yet, about a risqué subject that is guaranteed to have children--and adults--rolling in the aisles.

When Carmen tries to tell her parents that there is a big fart lying on her bed, they don't believe her. "Good families like ours," they tell her, "do not have farts." But when they go upstairs to see, the fart attacks them--as it does the similarly disbelieving police when they arrive. Carmen is left to deal with the situation on her own


And you can't forget "The Nose from Jupiter" which contains some nudity at the beginning, has an alien which is an avid kd lang fan, and a boy who, after listening to his divorsed parents argue comments that Lizzy Borden may have had the right idea.
http://www.amazon.ca/exec/obidos/ASIN/0887764282/701-0897421-8396348
And "Quest for Camelot" http://www.amazon.com/exec/obidos/ASIN/059012062X/qid=1027714959/sr=1-20/ref=sr_1_20/102-5004189-6840116
It is about a girl and a blind boy who both want to become knights and about an evil capitalist named Ruber who seeks revenge because he feels he deserves more than everybody. It is about working together.

[ July 26, 2002: Message edited by: vaudree ]


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flotsom
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posted 26 July 2002 05:58 PM      Profile for flotsom   Author's Homepage     Send New Private Message      Edit/Delete Post  Reply With Quote 
The Tell Tale Heart - it worked for me.
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vickyinottawa
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posted 26 July 2002 06:49 PM      Profile for vickyinottawa   Author's Homepage     Send New Private Message      Edit/Delete Post  Reply With Quote 
"Swimmy" and "Frederick" by Leo Lionni. My sis and I had these books when we were kids. I think both are still in print, and there's an excellent Lionni collection called Frederick's Fables.

"Swimmy" is about a fish whose school is eaten by a big tuna....he goes out into the "big wet world", sees lots of cool stuff, finds another school hiding from the tuna. Swimmy teaches them to swim together "each in his own place", and by swimming together they scare the big fish away.

Any wonder I grew up to be a union organizer?

"Frederick" is about a mouse who, while his family is collecting supplies for the winter, seems to be sitting around doing nothing. When questioned, he says he's gathering sunrays, words and colours. Winter comes and they run out of supplies, and turn to Frederick for his collection. He warms and cheers them with poetry.

It's a beautiful story about the importance of poetry and art in society. Any wonder I pursued a couple of graduate degrees in English?


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Tommy_Paine
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posted 27 July 2002 11:13 AM      Profile for Tommy_Paine     Send New Private Message      Edit/Delete Post  Reply With Quote 
Yes! I bought the "Paper Bag Princess" for my girls many, many years ago, and I still have it ready for my grandnieces and grandaughters to come.

I am to become a "great uncle" in August. My niece does not know the gender of the baby. My guess is a girl.


From: The Alley, Behind Montgomery's Tavern | Registered: Apr 2001  |  IP: Logged
animal
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posted 28 July 2002 12:23 AM      Profile for animal     Send New Private Message      Edit/Delete Post  Reply With Quote 
Oh my goodness, I've never heard anyone talk about "Swimmy" before. That was my absolute favorite childhood book! My mother tells me there were several months where I insisted she read it to me every night before bed.

Just a few weeks ago I read through a copy and I couldn't believe how political it was. Many thanks to Mom for instilling strong socialist values in me from such an early age .

Of course, "The Paper Bag Princess" was one of my favorites too.

I don't think any list would be complete without Astrid Lindgren's "Pippi Longstocking." The world's strongest girl, who drinks coffee, throws boys into trees, and has a healthy dose of self confidence. What more could you ask?


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DrConway
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posted 28 July 2002 12:29 AM      Profile for DrConway     Send New Private Message      Edit/Delete Post  Reply With Quote 
Heh.

I've been re-reading books I used to read when I was younger, and it's amazing how many of them unconsciously adopted a left-wing cant.

One of Nat Hentoff's books (The Day they Came to Arrest the Book) disparages religious conservatives.

Another book, by Elizabeth Levy (The Computer That Said Steal Me), has a main character whose parents lost their jobs in California because of tax cuts.

Gloria Miklowitz's The War Between The Classes is a great story of role-reversal at a high school sharply divided on race lines. She overexaggerates some of the ethnic animosities (recall that the book was written in the 1980s, before the hysterical right-wing backlash of the 1990s against anything good about blacks became commonplace) to make the ultimate point of the story clear to the intended audience. It's worth reading.

Many of the Hardy Boys books take on a populist cant where the detectives are the sole bulwark against a Big Evil, protecting some average person from this Evil.

The list goes on for ages, but anyway, there's enough subversive literature to make Conrad Black get worried.

[ July 28, 2002: Message edited by: DrConway ]


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scrabble
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posted 28 July 2002 02:12 AM      Profile for scrabble     Send New Private Message      Edit/Delete Post  Reply With Quote 
Swimmy!! My gawd, mom used to read this to us as we were growing up in a green-forsaken asian suburb. This was originally an english language book!?

I'm with vicky - wonder why I grew up to join the ranks of the labour apparatchik - ?

Pippi! and anything else by Astrid Lindgren - all the Ronia, Emil, and Lotta books - plus that morbidly beautiful Brothers Lionheart, where the boys (besides facing all the wonders and terrors of mortality and different visions of the hereafter) join a resistance movement to fight totalitarianism and a badass dragon. Maybe eight is too young for that.

DrConway, I have to disagree strongly on the Hardy Boys. They always seem to be overprivileged white children with a White Father who swoops in at the end to get them out of trouble and preserve the status quo. Besides which, the baddies are almost always unscrupulous foreigners. Sorry.

book title: Heather has Two Mommies
author: Leslea Newman / illustrated by Diana Souza
publisher: Alyson Publications
brief description of the story: Heather is lovely. So are her parents, Mama Jane and Mama Kate.

book title: The Missing Piece
author: Shel Siverstein
publisher: Harper & Row
brief description of the story: "It was missing a piece. And it was not happy. So it set off in search of its missing piece." Uh, lovely simple line drawings. In seeking a Piece to complete it, the Missing Piece discovers that the journey is more meaningful than the fulfilment of the wish.

book title: The Missing Piece Meets the Big O
author: Shel Silverstein
publisher: HarperCollins
brief description of the story: "By myself? A missing piece cannot roll by itself." "Have you ever tried?" asked the Big O. A sequel, obviously, wherein a Missing Piece has many adventures and learns to be happy and able despite obstacles.

book title: Story of Ferdinand
author: Barbara Lynn Edmonds
publisher: Penguin Putnam
brief description of the story: It's okay for a big bul(l)ky boy to grow up to be a sensitive, flower-loving fellow. Always seemed like a gay allegory to me.

book title: Sleeping Beauty and other favourite tales
author: Angela Carter / illustrated by Michael Foreman
publisher: Gollancz (this may be out of print, sadly)
brief description of the story: As some of you may know, Carter reconfigures european folk takes and turns them on their heads (for adult reading, try The Bloody Chamber). In this deluxe children's book, she transfigures some of the more popular tales ("Beauty and the Beast," "Bluebeard," etc) and lets it rip! Then adds fine quips at the end, eg: "It is easy to see that the events described in this story took place many years ago. No modern husband would dare to be half so terrible, nor to demand of his wife such an impossible thing as to stifle her curiosity. Be he never so quarrelsome or jealous, he'll toe the line as soon as she tells him to. And whatever colour his beard might be, it's easy to see which of the two is the master."

book title: Daddy's Roommate
author: Michael Willhoite
publisher: Alyson Publications
brief description of the story: A bit of a yawner, actually, but still...

book title: Skookum Sam, Spar Tree Man
author: Heather Kellerhals-Stewart / illustrated by Claire Kujundzic
publisher: Polestar Books
brief description of the story: My copy bears a golden sticker reading, "Choice: The Canadian Children's Book Centre," whatever that means. A rare book about how machines will never be as good as a knowledgeable worker; a book about forestry workers who respect the woods. I'm biased, since the artist is a good friend. Please read about her current fight against the closure of her local elementary school here.

book title: ABC: A Family Alphabet Book
author: Desiree Keane & Brian Rappa
publisher: Two Lives Publishing
brief description of the story: "L is for lunch. We always pack a picnic lunch when my moms take me to the beach." Gay parents and their kids hanging out and doing stuff.

book title: One Dad, Two Dads, Brown Dad, Blue Dads
author: Johnny Valentine / illustrated by Melody Sarecky
publisher: Alyson Publications
brief description of the story: We've all read this one, right? Homophobia and racism bad, good people good.

...is this enough for now?

[ July 28, 2002: Message edited by: scrabble ]


From: dappled shade in the forest | Registered: Jul 2002  |  IP: Logged
tonguesincommon
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posted 28 July 2002 02:28 AM      Profile for tonguesincommon        Edit/Delete Post  Reply With Quote 
Great thanks - keep 'em coming!
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scrabble
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posted 28 July 2002 03:42 AM      Profile for scrabble     Send New Private Message      Edit/Delete Post  Reply With Quote 
Missed this one on the first sweep, because it's kept in the bedroom; the book my sweetie reads to me when I'm not feeling well, etc:

book title: Sanctuary
author: Paul Monette
publisher: Scribner
brief description of the story: A story about Lapine (a bunny) and Renarda (a fox), whose forbidden love is discovered. This is possibly a bit much for eight-year-olds.

While I'm at it:

book title: The Ark in the Garden: Fables for Our Times
author: Alberto Manguel, ed. Stories by Margaret Atwood, Timothy Findley, Neil Bissoondath, Jane Urquhart, Rohinton Mistry, Yves Beauchemin.
publisher: Macfarlane Walter & Ross
brief description of the story: from the jacket notes: ". . . about Ebenezer Scrooge in Tory Ontario . . . Noah's attempts to join the select few aboard the ark . . . a land where, thanks to selective cutbacks, kite-flying and mountain-climbing are no longer possible . . ." etc.

book title:Maus (and its sequel, Maus II)
author: Art Spiegelman
publisher: Pantheon
brief description of the story: Since this is a graphic novel, this will appeal to readers of comics, even if they don't usually like to read about "that history stuff." Spiegelman, a gifted cartoonist, retells the story of how his father survived Auschwitz (and how his mother similarly survived Birkenau only to commit suicide in 1968). Didn't this win the Pulitzer? Anyway, the story is made even more compelling by the honesty with which Spiegelman portrays his running conflicts with his difficult dad. Probably not for very young readers.


From: dappled shade in the forest | Registered: Jul 2002  |  IP: Logged
Michelle
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posted 28 July 2002 09:37 AM      Profile for Michelle   Author's Homepage     Send New Private Message      Edit/Delete Post  Reply With Quote 
You're right, that Angela Carter book is out of print, but you can get used copies from Amazon - holy it's expensive though!

Those sound awesome. I wonder if my library has those books? I'd love to read them to Amir.

The old classic, "The Grinch Who Stole Christmas" by Dr. Seuss is good - the idea being that you don't need presents to have a good holiday.

"Horton Hears A Who" by Dr. Seuss is quite good too, the prevailing theme being, "A person's a person, no matter how small!" Dr. Seuss was quite a lefty sort of guy from what I've heard about him. In the movie, the "Wickerson Brothers" and the nosy Kangaroo busybody do this whole song and dance about how Horton is unravelling the fabric of society and is probably a commie because he insists on talking to the Who world in the dust speck. I'm not sure how much of that is in the book, though, because it's been years and years since I've read it.


From: I've got a fever, and the only prescription is more cowbell. | Registered: May 2001  |  IP: Logged
scrabble
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posted 30 April 2003 07:02 PM      Profile for scrabble     Send New Private Message      Edit/Delete Post  Reply With Quote 
Click, Clack, Moo: Cows that Type by Doreen Cronin, published by Simon & Schuster

What happens when the cows and chickens take job action to improve their working conditions?


From: dappled shade in the forest | Registered: Jul 2002  |  IP: Logged
Timebandit
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posted 01 May 2003 09:07 PM      Profile for Timebandit     Send New Private Message      Edit/Delete Post  Reply With Quote 
Dr Seuss' "The Sneetches"... I like that book. Small differences create an arms race.
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Weltschmerz
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posted 02 May 2003 11:34 AM      Profile for Weltschmerz     Send New Private Message      Edit/Delete Post  Reply With Quote 
Book Title: Giraffes Can't Dance
Author: Giles Andreae
Publisher: Orchard Books (Scholastic)
Brief Summary: "We all can dance when we find the music that we love"

Cheers,

[ 02 May 2003: Message edited by: Weltschmerz ]


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kuba walda
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posted 02 May 2003 12:12 PM      Profile for kuba walda        Edit/Delete Post  Reply With Quote 
Good Families Don't - Excellant book!

Number the Stars and The Giver by Lois Lowry - I don't know if they fit your criteria but I just loved them.

Best Dr. Suess books

The Lorax
Yertle the Turtle


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skdadl
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posted 02 May 2003 05:06 PM      Profile for skdadl     Send New Private Message      Edit/Delete Post  Reply With Quote 
*thread drift -- sorry*

kuba walda, I discover that I can get PMs from you but I cannot reply to them. This isn't gonna work unless you send me an email address (which I would respect, of course) -- I'd send you mine, but apparently I can't send you anything.

*end thread drift*


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afliction
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posted 16 May 2003 04:35 AM      Profile for afliction     Send New Private Message      Edit/Delete Post  Reply With Quote 
What about Dr. Suess' "The Butter Battle Book?"
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Gillian
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posted 16 May 2003 01:43 PM      Profile for Gillian     Send New Private Message      Edit/Delete Post  Reply With Quote 
"The Little Prince", by Antoine de St.Exupéry.
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April Follies
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posted 16 May 2003 01:44 PM      Profile for April Follies   Author's Homepage     Send New Private Message      Edit/Delete Post  Reply With Quote 
I don't have the books handy, but I recommend the "Kestrel" series by Lloyd Alexander. It actually deals with themes of popular revolution (including some of the dangers within such movements) in what starts off as a fairy-tale setting and gets much more realistic from there. Good for ages in the preteen and early teen ranges, I think.
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pan
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posted 16 May 2003 11:28 PM      Profile for pan     Send New Private Message      Edit/Delete Post  Reply With Quote 
Hmm -- I'm not sure these are helpful, but I couldn't pass up the chance to reminisce.

Suess, of course, for The Sneetches And Other Stories (an awesome study on elitism) The Lorax (environmentalism) and The Butter Battle Book (war over how you butter your bread)

I've always thought that brit books about precocious, confident, crossdressing tomboys helped me on my way to a well-adjusted genderfuck adulthood. Ones like Elinor Lyon's Hilary's Island and Enid Blyton's Famous Five series.

I loved traditional fairytale books from different cultures as a kid, especially with pictures. Arabian Nights is a classic, and you've got the Alladin disney wedge to start it off with. The wierd, stereotype-enforcing illustrations that often came in older books was more than made up for by showing me that there's more out there than snow white.

If you subscribe to a newspaper, young kids who read the comics often graduate to life or sports sections, then letters, then to reading the news. In the same vein, having adult books and zines accessible and easily stealable helps kids be book nerds and develop the abstract thinking skills to critically evaluate things like priviledge in society. I read a lot of speculative and short fic (1984, Tesseracts, whatever) because it was there -- and having no TV helped, too.


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Woodnymph
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posted 19 May 2003 04:46 PM      Profile for Woodnymph     Send New Private Message      Edit/Delete Post  Reply With Quote 
Hear hear for Dr. Seuss. And my mother wonders why I'm an environmentalist, wary of commericalism (The Lorax) who is extremely concerned with acceptance of all (The Sneetches, etc.). She ordered the entire collection when my brother and I were children and now my brother is a paster in an inner city church and I'm actively involved in at least 3 volunteer organizations at one time. I like to think it's all because of hearing Dr. Seuss as children, instead of Disney.

[ 19 May 2003: Message edited by: Woodnymph ]


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sophrosyne
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posted 19 May 2003 05:08 PM      Profile for sophrosyne     Send New Private Message      Edit/Delete Post  Reply With Quote 
One of my all-time favorite books that may fall under this category is Hope for the Flowers, by Trina Paulus (1972). It's an oldie, but a goodie. It's hard finding a copy these days, as I think (sadly) that it is out of print.

Jonathan Livingston Seagull, by Richard Bach, is also one of my favorites.

And last but not least, who can forget The Little Prince, by Antoine de Saint-Exupery.


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anarcheologia
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posted 20 May 2003 11:51 AM      Profile for anarcheologia   Author's Homepage     Send New Private Message      Edit/Delete Post  Reply With Quote 
Jonathan Livington Seagull is a WICKED suggestion.

Two more:

The World is Round by Gertrude Stein
published by Boston & Bath, 1993
(first published in 1939)
"The World is Round has been called a narrative for children and philosophers, for it deals playfully with the ideas of person and place, reality and identity."

On the Merry-Go-Round by bpNichol & Simon Ng
published by Red Deer College Press, 1991
A lovely illustrated poem for very young kids. Nichol, as you may know, was a writer for Fraggle Rock for awhile.


From: lothlorien | Registered: Mar 2002  |  IP: Logged
Saladin
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posted 20 May 2003 07:22 PM      Profile for Saladin     Send New Private Message      Edit/Delete Post  Reply With Quote 
Try reading the holy Qur'an to your children.
From: damascus | Registered: Jan 2003  |  IP: Logged
cruisedirector
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posted 21 May 2003 07:09 PM      Profile for cruisedirector        Edit/Delete Post  Reply With Quote 
You want subversive? Try & find a copy of My Name Is Papa Snap and These Are My Favourite No Such Stories.
It's a series of short little stories that are a) hilarious, and b) brilliant anti-capitalist, anti-consumerist, anti-conformist satire. I didn't pick up on that as a kid, but I think the book permanently warped me. When I show it to my pals, they're like "yeah, that explains a lot."
I think it's out of print, but really deserves to be back in circulation.

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Ryan McGreal
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posted 22 May 2003 01:57 PM      Profile for Ryan McGreal   Author's Homepage        Edit/Delete Post  Reply With Quote 
Here's a list (sorry, I don't have publisher info available for some):

Cook, Barbara & Olah, Mary Jane, Celebrations, 1989

Lalli, Judy, et al, Make Someone Smile: And 40 More Ways to Be a Peaceful Person, 1996

Agassi, Martine & Heinlen, Marieka, Hands Are Not For Hitting, 2000

Garrison, Jennifer & Tubesing, Andrew, A Million Visions of Peace: Wisdom from the Friends of Old Turtle, 2001

MacDonald, Margaret Read, Peace Tales: World Folktales to Talk About, 1992

Munsch, Robert, Where is Gah-Ning?, 1994

Nicholls, Judith, Earthways Earthwise, 1993

Payne, Lauren Murphy, et al, We Can Get Along: A Child's Book for Choices, 1997

Say, Allen, Grandfather's Journey, Boston, Mass: Houghton Mifflin Co., 1993

Scoles, Katherine, Peace Begins with You, Toronto, Ont.: Little, Brown & Co., 1990

Seuss, Dr., The Butter Battle Book, 1984

Seuss, Dr., The Lorax, 1971

Spier, Peter, People, 1980

Thomas, Shelley Moore, Somewhere Today: A Book of Peace, 1998

Tompert, Ann, Grandfather Tang's Story, 1990

Tsuchiva, Yukio, Faithful Elephants, 1990 - not for younger children, this one's a real tearjerker

Wheeler, Bernelda, A Friend Called Chum, 1984

Wheeler, Bernelda, I Can't Have Bannock but the Beaver Has a Dam, 1993

Wheeler, Bernelda, Where Did You Get Your Moccasins?, 1992

Wood, Douglas & Chee, Cheng-Khee, Old Turtle, 1992


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david 40
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posted 22 May 2003 10:45 PM      Profile for david 40     Send New Private Message      Edit/Delete Post  Reply With Quote 
I recognize at outset I am not making any friends here (being racist, sexist, redneck, homophobic, etc.).

That said, girls in general like stories where there is a clear moral, and The Girl ends up being secure and taken care of.

Boys, in general, like a clear distinction between right and wrong, and lottsa physical action that lets them identify with the right.

Ya, you can introduce them to other material. Maybe you can teach your cat to eat carrots as well.

Best. d


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david 40
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posted 22 May 2003 10:48 PM      Profile for david 40     Send New Private Message      Edit/Delete Post  Reply With Quote 
"The Cradle of the Deep", Joan Lowell, Simon & Schuster, 1929. An eleven year-old girl spends three years as a deck ape on her father's China Clipper. Autobiographical.
From: Surrey, B.c. | Registered: Mar 2003  |  IP: Logged
mistress maude
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posted 23 May 2003 01:58 AM      Profile for mistress maude        Edit/Delete Post  Reply With Quote 
My first suggestion was Cows That Type by Doreen Cronin - already suggested

also: Stephanie's ponytail by Robert Munsch

Come Sit by Me (kid with HIV) by Margaret Merrifield 1990 Women's Press

Heather Has Two Mommies - Leslea Newman 1989, In Other Words Publishers, Northampton, MA

Almost anyting by Dr. Seuss

AND

I really like Kevin Henkes' books - look in kids section in any good book store.


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Dr. Mr. Ben
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posted 23 May 2003 11:48 AM      Profile for Dr. Mr. Ben   Author's Homepage     Send New Private Message      Edit/Delete Post  Reply With Quote 
I'm not surprised there are so many "subversive" children's books out there because I think that our society is, for the most part, very good at teaching kids to share and be nice to people, &c., &c.

Unfortunately, we're equally good at "deprogramming" them later on.


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Cynicalico
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posted 30 May 2003 10:31 PM      Profile for Cynicalico   Author's Homepage     Send New Private Message      Edit/Delete Post  Reply With Quote 
quote:
Originally posted by david 40:
I recognize at outset I am not making any friends here (being racist, sexist, redneck, homophobic, etc.).

That said, girls in general like stories where there is a clear moral, and The Girl ends up being secure and taken care of.

Boys, in general, like a clear distinction between right and wrong, and lottsa physical action that lets them identify with the right.

Ya, you can introduce them to other material. Maybe you can teach your cat to eat carrots as well.

Best. d



Are you for real? You are sexist, redneck and homophobic??? And you participate here? You just made a friend, buddy!!! :-) And no, I am none of those things, but I do have respect for a masochistic streak in a man!


So. Back to your post. What you are saying is probably true. Girls and boys are exposed to our still patriarchal culture from very young age. From birth, actually. Adults interact with babies differently when they think the baby to be male, than when they think the baby to be female. So by the age, of, say 6 or 7, the girl will have a definite preference for 'girl stuff' and the boy will have a clear preference for 'boy stuff'.

But does it mean that we have to perpetuate that state of affairs, and actually GIVE our children only 50% of the world, the wings to the boys, and the roots to the girls?

Please understand, I am not saying 'let's turn all men into househusbands and all girls into astronauts'. I mean, wouldn't it be healthier for both genders to have appreciation for enjoying nurturance and care, as well as for standing up for what's right and being active? And when they grow up, make an informed choice of what they want.


From: Canada | Registered: May 2003  |  IP: Logged
Cynicalico
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posted 31 May 2003 05:48 PM      Profile for Cynicalico   Author's Homepage     Send New Private Message      Edit/Delete Post  Reply With Quote 
Suggestion for children's reading:

Take time to explore mythology and religious stories, and stories from other cultures. Some Russian folklore, for example, will have powerful feminine - type deities, as well as strong female characters. Native American stories can be a good source of material. Also, Bible stories written within feminist perspective, portraying the strong women of the Bible.

However, I also think that it is important to introduce the 'traditional' (so to speak) stories as well. Cinderella, snowwhite, little mermaid. Protecting the children from the material isn't going to make them into feminists, in fact, it may have just the opposite effect - we (human beings) often yearn for what is 'forbidden', or 'hidden' or 'ignored'. So by all means, show them the stuff. But also, talk to them about it. You don't need to bring Adrea Dvorkin's critique of fairy tales to your 5-year old. Just discuss things with her. Ask questions. Allow her to ask questions. Bring a new twist to the story. Say, "what if....". Play "let's pretend that..." games. Let her mind explore possibilities and alternatives. Teach her HOW to think rather than WHAT to think.

Sincerely,

Cynicalico.


From: Canada | Registered: May 2003  |  IP: Logged

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